


Tremble in your Arms

by echowolfM



Category: DCU (Comics), Gotham City Sirens (Comics), Harley Quinn (Comics), Poison Ivy (Comics)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26669260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echowolfM/pseuds/echowolfM
Summary: Choices aren't always consciously made.Especially when the world's burning around you.
Relationships: Pamela Isley & Harleen Quinzel, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel
Comments: 9
Kudos: 52





	Tremble in your Arms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lizarr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizarr/gifts).



> Idea by Lizarr  
> -not exactly what you described, but i hope you like it anyways!

It started off like any normal day.

Birds were tweeting outside her window, the drunks downstairs were snoring peacefully through their hangovers, and Joker was sprawled on the other side of the bed he sometimes let Harley sleep in when he was in a good mood.

Harley had dragged him upstairs in the wee hours of the morning after having an absolute rager with his higher up minions- he hated waking up on the floor or the couch- and now she was gussying herself up for a morning on the town. J liked pancakes with whipped cream after a long night partying, and she was fresh out of maraschino cherries to top them off with.

She painted her face a more natural skin tone and tossed on a long sleeved shirt and jeans. Autumn had come early this year, and her skin didn’t absorb the warmth of the sun like it used to. She distantly thought of Ivy as she grabbed her keys on the way out, noting that the changing leaves on the tree next to her window mimicked the red of her fiery hair. Or did her hair mimic the leaves?

Hmmm.

By the time Harley had decided that animal hair had come after leaves had developed hibernation cycles and therefore the trait for red hair mimicked leaves in the fall, she was at the store front. It was a simple corner store on the trashier side of town. The side of town where drug addicts hobbled in, leaning heavy to one side like their world was on a different axis, to nick candies and cereal bars off the front counter before making a mad dash for the crappy door that probably never locked right to begin with.

She finds the cherries alongside with other preserved fruits and foods, and drops a twenty on the counter, picking up a pack of gum for herself as well and tipping the poor teen the rest of her change. She knew it was hard working at such a dim, dingy place this early in the morning, and already she could tell she had made the boy’s day.

She was maybe halfway home when she felt something strange.

A tremor.

Like how a building shook slightly if a bomb went off on its twentieth floor.

It was maybe three seconds after it ended when her phone rang. She checked the caller ID and saw it was none other than the autumn haired Ivy herself and answered in a chipper voice, completely brushing off the chill running up her spine.

“Hia, Pammie! What’s cracking?”

“You need to get out of Gotham.” Her voice is urgent and panicked.

“What’s that?” Harley tilted her head as if Ivy could see her. “Why?”

“Something _big_ is coming. Didn’t you feel the tremor?”

“Pshh, it was probably some Rogue blowing up a bank or something. I hardly felt anything!” She reassured.

“No, you don’t understand, there’s a fault line just outside-”

“Pammie, come on, the rock people woulda said something if a big quake’s on the way. Like when the weather people predict a big storm or the water people predict tsunamis and such.”

“That- that’s not how any of that works and you know it!” Ivy sounded angry now, and Harley couldn’t understand how she had gotten worked up so fast. Even in her worst moods Ivy always had patience for her. She never snapped our shouted, and when she did, she immediately apologized. “Harley we need to leave! I’m coming to get you.”

“Pammie, is this ‘cuz I ducked out on girls night last Tuesday?” Harley fumbled with her bag and keys as she made it back to the hideout. She worked the door open and locked it behind her, noting that some of the goons were starting to stir and regretting their life’s choices. “Because I said I was sorry. Mista J needed me, and don’t botha commin’ by. Puddin’s got a massive hangover and I gotta keep him fed and hydrated till he feels better.

“Harley, please!”

“No, Pammie, I gotsta go make breakfast. Bye now, I’ll talk to ya soon!” And with that she hung up and texted Selina a warning that Ivy was having an episode. Ivy immediately tried calling her again, but Harley put her phone on ‘do not disturb’ and went about making breakfast for the crew.

She took Joker’s food right up to him in bed and left it waiting for when he awoke, and then she went back downstairs and began tending to the menagerie of drunken to hungover men covering the hideout floor.

She would have missed the second tremor had their electricity not been so bad. The singular lightbulb hanging from a cord on the ceiling rocked and flickered for a moment. _Just a second bomb,_ Harley told herself, but she checked her phone anyways while the boys passed around the jar of cherries.

There were sixty-two messages and missed calls from Ivy, and only three from Selina. Harley checked Selina’s first.

**[thanks for the heads up.]**

**[umm. Are your sure it’s an episode? I just checked the news and apparently the Faultline on the edge of the city hasn’t gone off in over a hundred years or so, and Ivy’s a hell of a lot more in tune with nature than any of us.]**

**[Pam just called. She’s absolutely panicked. I’m gonna go check on her and I think you should too. Even if it’s a false alarm she could at least use the comfort of having you close by.]**

For the first time today, Harley felt a prickle of anxiety. The last message had come just a few minutes ago, and cautiously she opened her private messages with Ivy. They were all variants of ‘we need to leave’, begging, pleading, and links to multiple articles about the Faultline and news clips from earlier in the morning.

When she listened to the voicemails Ivy had left, Harley _really_ felt guilty. She could tell by the sound of her voice that Ivy was near tears, begging for her to leave Gotham with her.

“Somethin wrong, boss?” Tony, one of Joker’s right-hand men asked from his spot on the floor.

“Turn on the news, would ya? Keep the volume off and hit the button for the subtitles.” Harley said. “Somethin funny’s goin on.”

He did as he was told and opened up to a news report on the tremor she had just felt. It was barely negligible on the scale of pre-quake tremors, but the news lady was treating it serious as a real, honest to god quake.

The few goons that could see and think straight- well, straight _er-_ read the subtitles along with her.

“Tremors? I ain’t feelin no tremors.” Jones said, popping another cherry in his mouth. “Did you, boss?”

Harley considered lying, but what was the use? If it was as bad as Pammie thought it was going to be, the least she could do was warn them. “Yeah, actually. Didn’t think much about them but a couple friends are real freaked out by it.”

It wasn’t a secret to any of the Goons that she often hung out with Poison Ivy and Catwoman, but something about what she said snapped a few of them out of their still drunken stupor.

“Poison Ivy’s freaked about this? Ain’t she part plant? Should we be worried too?” The questions didn’t help her nerves, and all Harley could do was direct their attention to the news.

…

It was maybe an hour or so later when the third tremor hit.

“Harley?!” Joker’s shrill voice sent her racing for the stairs. When she reached the bedroom, J was scowling at her. “Who’s bombing Gotham at this ungodly hour?!”

His voice is slurred, and he isn’t actually looking at her. His eyes are still closed but his face is screwed up with anger as he wobbles on his arms to keep himself upright in the bed.

“Nobody, Puddin’. She crosses the room and kisses his cheek sweetly. He brushes her off immediately. “The earth’s been tremblin’ all morning. Pammie thinks its gonna be a bad one.”

“Psh! Pammie Shmammie! That girl wouldn’t know a tremor from a quiver!” He grumbled as she fed him his breakfast.

“The news says otherwise. Says there’s a Faultline near the city that hasn’t made a sound in ages, and now it’s getting rumbly.”

“Eh, earthquakes happen all the time. The city will start dancing for a second, then it will be over and there will be some _prime_ chaos time for us!” Joker chuckled in that way that let Harley know he was already planning something. “Harley! Go get me a pen and paper! You’ve got some shopping to do!”

She tried to go find it immediately, but he berated her, and she had to sit back down and finish feeding him before fetching a notepad and a glittery pencil from under the nightstand. He wrote down a menagerie of things for her to hunt down and sent her out so he could sleep off the rest of his hang over.

She grabbed the goons that were the most sober and they split up the list between them. Harley was tasked to hunt down an ungodly amount of gunpowder and fireworks, so she packed a bag, took one of their moving trucks, and made her way to the local fireworks store.

The radio said there was another tremor while she was driving. And she thought of Ivy again. She hadn’t looked at her phone since the second one. When she pulled into the parking lot, she checked her phone.

There were no more messages or calls from Ivy, but there were a few from Selina keeping her updated on the redhead’s mental state.

**[Just got here. Ivy’s place is a fucking forest now. I could barely see the greenhouse under all those vines. She’s also dumped all her chemicals and cut off the gas to the apartment. She’s not playing, Harls. I think we should listen to her.]**

**[She wants to go looking for you. She’s really freaked out, and she’s starting to freak me out too. Did you feel the last tremor? She was so scared.]**

Harley was feeling real bad for brushing Ivy off so hard this morning, but the tremors were happening every few hours or so. Surely, she had enough time to grab the things on her list, drive them back, and pay her friends a visit to calm Ivy down.

Surely, the quake wouldn’t be that bad, if it even happened at all.

The heist was easy enough. No one in the store was stupid enough to challenge her when she pulled out a gun. One spark and this place would be up in smoke in a second. She ordered a couple workers to fill up her car and was on her way in less than an hour. Even better, she heard on the radio as she was heading home that the Bats were all running around the city after the other Goons or Rogues that were trying to stir up trouble while everyone was freaking out about the tremors.

She pulled the car up and into the hideout and parked it before pulling out her phone. No new messages from Selina or Ivy, no new tremors she missed, and the day was finally looking great.

But just as she stepped away from the truck and was about to messages Selina that she was on her way, another shake began. It started out small and insignificant, but it didn’t end like the others. No, no. instead of trailing off and leaving the world trembling in its aftermath, it continued.

And it got stronger.

She felt unsteady and her heartrate picked up. Crouching down, she braced a hand on the floor as the warehouse hideout shook with the world around her. She could hear shouts from the goons inside, Joker screaming her name, and the groan of the building around her as the shaking got worse and worse. Panicked and feeling unsafe in the old warehouse, Harley desperately tried crawling towards the open warehouse entrance, but outside she could see the lone telephone pole they leeched off swaying like a leaf in the breeze.

There was snapping, crackling, and then the thundering of crunching metal. The post fell onto the warehouse, its wires whipping out and falling into the building, crunching the old metal and easily tearing through the ceiling. The shaking continued as Harley watched, absolutely horrified as one of the wires fell onto the car she had just parked. The car filled with colorful explosives.

The car was fine for two heartbeats, and then it imploded with light, the force of the blast knocking Harley back and into a hazy darkness.

When she wakes up, the shaking had thankfully stopped, but she was buried under thousands of pounds of warehouse. Harley felt dizzy and sick, but she pushed it aside, managing to shove her hand around the floor and find what she thought to be her phone.

Well, it certainly was her phone, but the screen was so busted when she turned it on it was just a rainbow of bright colors that flickered on and off. With a small groan, Harley used the light it emitted to check her surroundings.

Lucky for her, the scaffolding had created a little cavern for her, protecting her from most of the falling debris. Easing herself up, she ignored the possible concussion she had and took a few shaky breaths. The air was thick and smokey. Her ears felt strange, and she instinctively plugged her nose and popped them.

Suddenly sound entered her world. There were sirens, screaming and shouting, and the familiar roar of fire all around her.

Her heartrate jumped into overdrive and she pushed and kicked at the debris that had piled around her. One flat piece of sheet metal she herself had used to patch the ceiling with a few years back gave way easily and she broke out into the open. Dust filled her lungs and she fell into a coughing fit, but she didn’t stop crawling and climbing until she was staring straight up at the dusty orange sky.

When she finally managed to catch her breath, Harley looked around and felt herself grow cold with horror.

Gotham City was… gone.

Buildings had fallen and people were bloody and crying, wandering the streets in a complete daze and unsure of what to do next. She saw a few familiar goons pulling each other out of the rubble, and she saw Joker staring out at the city, with his back towards her. He wasn’t laughing or talking. Just staring out at the ruined city.

Harley felt a shiver take over her body, and she hugged herself. One of her arms felt wet, and she saw she had given herself a deep scratch at some point. Unthinking, she looked about for something to tie it with, and caught a glimpse of the ruined tree that had always stood tall right next to their warehouse hideout.

It had been hit by the falling scaffolding too, and was twisted and broken. Its autumn red leaves crackling as a fire spread to it.

_Red._

Harley didn’t think. She stood and stumbled her way down the debris pile, cutting up her shins and shoes as she half skid, half fell down to the cracked concrete below. She could hear a few of the goons calling out to her, but she paid them no mind.

She had to find Pamela.

Canal Point was on the complete other side of Gotham from where Joker’s hideout was, and with the city in turmoil, Harley knew it was going to be utter hell getting to Ivy’s apartment. What she hadn’t considered was the aftershocks.

She was maybe twenty minutes into her trek, climbing over the ruins of fallen, smoldering buildings, and leaping over the massive cracks in the pavement that would send her falling into the deathtrap that was the sewer system, which was now overflowing with rushing water and sewage. She helped a few people out of holes or drag a body or two out of rubble, but mostly kept her heavily concussed mind on her goal.

She should have listened. She should have gone to Ivy the moment she began to panic. Ivy was a fucking plant person, of course she knew it was going to be _this_ bad.

Her train of though ended as an aftershock took her off her feet. She tried to brace herself, but the rumbling next to her set her fear response on fire. The barely standing skyscraper next to her shivered and suddenly became about twenty feet shorter as the base of the building collapsed in on itself.

Harley tried scrambling away, but there was no way she could outrun a falling building on all fours with the ground still shaking like it was. People screamed and cried, all trying their hardest to flee from its path with her.

Air wooshed above her, and Harley chanced a glance up as something collided with the building. Her heart lightened and tears ran down her cheeks as she smiled. The Justice League had arrived.

Wonder Woman and Supergirl caught the building together and eased its collapse down away from the people on the street. Kara caught sight of Harley just as the tremor ended and she flew down to help her up onto her feet.

“You’ve gotta get out of here, Harley! The whole city’s collapsing, you should be running away from falling buildings, not _towards_ them!”

“But I gotta find Pam!” Harley wiped at her tears but only ended up getting dirt and soot in her eyes. “She warned me it was gonna be bad! I shoulda trusted her! And now I don’t even know if she’s okay!”

Kara comforted her and wiped her eyes with her cape. “I gotta get back to work, but I can call in for Poison Ivy’s location?”

“No, I gotta find her myself! She’ll never forgive me otherwise!” Harley steels herself once her eyes are cleared. “I’ll be okay, and I know where she lives so don’t worry about me. Once I find Pammy we’ll clear outa the city. Promise.”

Kara furrowed her brow, but Wonder Woman was calling down to her and Harley knew she couldn’t argue. “Promise?”

Kara offered her pinky, and Harley twisted it with her own. “Pinky promise.”

Kara gave her one last hug before flying up to go help more people, and Harley hurried on her way.

She lost track of time, falling into a rhythm of jumping and ducking and climbing over rubble and cracks in the ground. When Canal Point finally was within sight, Harley felt any hope she had for Ivy’s safety fall through her chest.

The apartment building Ivy had taken over was gone, and the greenhouse beside it was just a wall of burning plants. She was surprised she couldn’t hear Ivy’s screams from here, and that fact alone half convinced Harley right then and there that the redhead was dead.

Her body was exhausted, but her fear drove her forwards. She tripped and stumbled over rocks and glass, but didn’t stop until the city gave way to the small, developing sector. She climbed over a fallen fence, kicked up ash and dust while crossing the construction site of a new building that was now never going to be finished, and finally stumbled into the rubble of the apartment building.

Harley was sobbing, wailing out Ivy’s name as she searched the rubble for her dearest friend. She distantly remembered Selina had been with Ivy as well, but the only name that came out of her throat was, “Pamela.”

When she was certain she had looked everywhere she could, Harley braved the fire in the greenhouse, but that was useless as well. She couldn’t find Ivy, and it was killing her on the inside and out.

She didn’t know what to do, or where to go. She stumbled out of the burning greenhouse, coughing and sputtering and sure she was going to develop stage three lung cancer at some point in her life, before falling to her knees a safe distance away from the fire.

That was where Batman found her, broken and defeated and just _so_ exhausted.

“Harley, you need to get out of here.”

“She’s gone.” Was all she could manage to say.

“Ivy? No, she’s safe, Quinn.” Harley was sure her heart stopped for a moment as he offered her a hand. “I’ll take you to her. She and Catwoman are safe.”

She takes his hand with a sob, and he pulls her to her feet and supports her when her legs shake as she walks. He puts her in the passenger seat of the Batmobile and he races it towards the Canal. She can barely feel surprised or delighted as the batmobile turns into a weird batboat and speeds across the water. When they’re on the non-burning outskirts of Gotham city, he drives her up to a ruined cabin on a hill.

“Where are we?” She asks.

“When Pamela Isley bought up most of Canal point, she bought the land adjacent to it across the canal as well. I know from ordinances that it was supposed to become forest preserve, but she built a small hut here a year or so back.”

He helped her climb out of the Batmobile and up to the hill, then around it to a storm cellar. He knocked on the door twice, and after a moment Selina opened the latch.

She’s dirty and exhausted looking, but her face lights up at the sight of Harley. She throws her arms around Harley’s neck and thanks God that she’s alright.

“Where’s Pamela?” is the first question out of Harley’s mouth when she pulls back.

Selina has the audacity to roll her eyes, but she’s still smiling so Harley knows she isn’t offended. Batman leaves them to it and Harley follows her into a candle lit bunker.

“Ivy tried to sure up the apartment and greenhouse, but autumn’s got the air and plants all dry so as soon as a telephone pole fell onto the greenhouse the whole thing caught on fire. Ivy of course panicked and tried to save it, but then the apartment went down as well she locked up real bad. It’s a miracle she managed to tell me about this place.”

The world around her fades as soon as she saw her. Pamela was curled up in a tight ball on the couch, her arms wrapped around her legs and her face tucked against them. Selina had thrown a blanket over her shoulder, but she was still shivering visibly.

“Pamela,” Harley’s voice is hoarse and she falls to the side of the couch by her. “Pammie, please… I’m so sorry.”

Bloodshot and tear filled green eyes look up to her. They are wide with shock and her pupils are dilated with fear. Harley can only guess what she’s feeling.

“Remember how ta block em out, Pammie? Focus on me. Focus on my voice.”

She can only imagine how much horror Ivy was hearing from the plant world right now. All of Gotham was on fire, and though it was a dingy city, there was still lots of vegetation around. Not to mention all the trees and plants that were uprooted in the quake.

“Harley…” Pamela finally manages to squeeze out a sound, and she wraps the redhead in a hug.

Another aftershock rocked the bunker and Pam clung to her, but even as the tremors continued, Harley felt as if the world was finally still. Her home was gone, their city was on fire, but Pamela was here and she was safe in Pamela’s arms.

…

It took a long time for Gotham to stop burning, and Harley got to watch it all across the Canal with Pamela and Selina at her side. It was strange. She felt nothing when she looked to the carnage, but when she looked at the living wood cottage Ivy had weaved for them in the following weeks, she felt safe and at home.

Selina came and went every once in a while, but they had all been left homeless and basically broke until insurance kicked in, so she always came back around at some point.

Pam was incredibly tense still. Constantly looking over her shoulder or staring into space with this look that was stuck somewhere between scared and worried. Harley had noticed it wasn’t so bad as long as she had someone around her, so she tried to always stay within sight of the woman.

One night, Selina had gone out again, leaving Pam and Harley to settle in the lone bed they had brought up from the bunker. Without Selina, they had a little room to stretch out, but Pam still pulled her close and Harley tucked herself into her embrace.

“Pammie?” Harley spoke up, worried Pamela was still suffering from the pain of the green and just choosing not to talk with her about it. “You alright?”

Pam is quiet for a while. “You haven’t gone back to Joker yet.”

Harley was a little stunned by the comment. But then again, she hadn’t thought about Joker since the 7.6 earthquake had destroyed Gotham. She was so wrapped up in building her life again with the Sirens that she hadn’t the time to dwell on him.

All at once, she felt horribly guilty. She had long ago accepted that Pam had feelings for her but had pushed it so far out of her mind that she often forgot. She knew every time she chose to go to Joker instead of stay with Pam that it killed the redhead inside. She had hoped that whatever had grown between them would die because of her actions, that way she wouldn’t ever have to choose. But obviously it hadn’t.

All these weeks, Pam wasn’t just stressed about the Green’s suffering, she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She was waiting for Harley to leave.

But Harley had already made her choice. She had made it the moment she didn’t go to Joker’s side when their hideout had exploded. She hadn’t known it at the time, but she had chosen Pamela.

“He doesn’t need me.” Harley chose her words carefully.

Pining was a weird combination of feelings. Someone could want something that they’ve never had so badly it makes them sick, but then they have their first taste and turn their nose up at it immediately. She loved Pam, but she couldn’t be sure whatever Pamela felt would stick around for long.

“What?” She is utterly shocked, literally sitting up in bed and pulling away from Harley.

“Yeah. Weird, right? I think my concussion snapped the crazy outa me.” Harley tried to laugh it off, but she could see Pam’s eyes glistening in the darkness. “I- I’m not promising anything, Pammie, but I don’t wanna go back ta him. I wanna stay… With you, and with Kitty.”

Tears fall, and Pamela wraps her in a gentle hug, her shoulders trembling as she wept. “That’s all I’ve ever needed to hear.”

No promises were made, no declarations of love or adoration were uttered. That wasn’t what either of them needed. All they needed was each other, and they could figure out the rest later.


End file.
